Authors Notes: You're gonna want to read the AN at the bottom… seriously, I cant stress this enough.
Jaune was many things, kind, intelligent, loyal, unfortunately one of those things was also predictable. It took no time at all for Pyrrha to find him.
She knew him, it was one of the few things she allowed herself to take pride in, that she knew her partner so well. Whenever he was feeling down or distraught, he would come to the roof where she had first started training him.
It brought a sad smile to her face to see him there now.
Jaune sat at the edge of the roof, looking out over Vale. There were still a few hours before dusk meaning the view was nothing compared to what it could be.
Pyrrha made sure to keep her distance until he noticed her presence. When he finally looked over his shoulder at her, she approached.
They sat in silence for a few moments as she waited for him to say something, in the end he said nothing and it was up to her to start the conversation.
"Are you ready for the dance tonight?" She felt it was a good topic, one that would lead to what she really wanted to ask.
Jaune didn't look at her, nor did he seem to even hear her question for a moment. His reply was quiet, barely above a whisper. "I'm not going."
Pyrrha sighed softly but refused to leave it at that. "And why not?"
Jaune lowered his head for a moment before sighing. "It would be a bad idea."
Pyrrha waited for more but nothing came. "And why is that? This is a rare occasion, you should try to enjoy it while you can."
"I don't want to ruin the night."
Pyrrha had a reply ready in an instant declaring no such thing would occur, but she held back when she heard the tone in his voice. "Who would you ruin it for?"
Jaune looked at her for a moment before turning back to the view. "They put a lot of work into this… I'm sure it will be perfect." His voice sounded sorrowful, it didn't fit him at all and Pyrrha felt her heart shake at it.
Pyrrha paused a moment before speaking. "Then shouldn't you go? If you're so sure it will be perfect, won't you regret not going?" It was sound logic, something he couldn't deny.
"Yang deserves to enjoy the evening more than I do." In the end, he didn't try to deny it. "I want to go, truly I do but…" He paused a moment. "It wouldn't be fair of me to steal that joy from Yang."
"You would put her happiness before your own?" Pyrrha couldn't hold back a sad smile when Jaune nodded his head. He was still the selfless person he had always been, the one she had fallen in love with.
She put those thoughts away, her chance for that happiness may have passed but it wasn't for Jaune. "What happened?" She knew of course, Yang had told her the whole affair, but she needed to see Jaune's side of it.
Jaune seemed hesitant, not that Pyrrha could blame him, but eventually decided to talk.
"We were training, like we always do, except things were going well for once. It seemed like I might actually beat her, and technically I did. Ring out, just like Cardin." Pyrrha smiled at the thought and Yangs own recollection of the moment she realized the trap before her. "She grabbed me as she fell and threw me down to cushion her fall."
Jaune let loose a sigh, one filled with regret. "We sat there in silence, it felt nice… she felt nice. Before I knew it we were kissing." A slight blush came to his cheeks but he didn't stop speaking. "I don't know who started it… one moment we were sitting there the next… well…"
Pyrrha's tongue got caught in her throat. He didn't know Yang wanted that kiss just as much as he had.
"After a few moments she threw herself up on her feet." Jaune sighed once more. "The look on her face… I couldn't get to my feet fast enough. I drove her off."
Even in heart break, Jaune defended the other person first. Yang had run, no one else would have said it the way Jaune had, directing all the blame away from her onto himself.
Pyrrha had a choice to make. Did she betray Yang's confidence in her and tell Jaune the truth? Jaune was many things, and she loved him dearly for all of them, but he was possibly the most dense man on all of Remnant when it came to matters of the heart.
"Are you sure she doesn't feel the same way?" In the end, Pyrrha couldn't bring herself to betray Yang's trust. At least, not out right.
Jaune seemed to hesitate for a moment before responding. "I'm sure."
Pyrrha's heart sank. "Why wouldn't she like you?" Jaune seemed startled by the force behind her words, and for a moment she was too. "You always put yourself down, acting like you don't deserve this. Jaune, you are better than you know! People love you for who you are but you break our hearts when you act like you're not worth that."
Jaune seemed startled but regained his composure a moment later. "I appreciate what you're saying, I do, but... Yang never seemed to think of me that way."
Pyrrha bit back her reply that he never noticed her, that would only make things worse. She wasn't here for herself. "You said you were sparring, right?" She waited for him to nod before continuing. "Adrenaline is natures best drug. It can make people do things they normally wouldn't, like act on certain feelings that they didn't notice were there in the first place."
Pyrrha spoke from experience. There were numerous occasions where she almost did the same thing Yang had done, only stopping because she was scared.
Jaune seemed conflicted and went to speak but was interrupted by Pyrrha before he could. "You don't know how she feels, don't pretend to. All you have to know is how you feel." She took a deep breath and asked the question that mattered most. "Do you have feelings for Yang?"
Jaune sat in silence for a moment before turning to her with a smile on his face. "I know what I have to do." He stood up and turned towards the door. "But I think I'll need your help."
Pyrrha couldn't agree fast enough.
Jaune walked up to the door, placing his fist only an inch away from it, before backing away once more. A series of events that he had been repeating for nearly half an hour. He had been trying to work up the courage to knock on the team Rwby dorm for several hours.
In the end he kicked himself mentally for how weak he was and started to step away, just as the door opened to a rather irate Schnee.
She glared at him for a few moments before speaking. "Well?" when it became clear he had no plan on replying she growled and spoke again. "Are you going to come in or not?"
Jaune knew how he must have looked, an idiot would probably be the closest term describing it. "I was just um… uh, looking for Ruby." He kicked himself again for slipping into a lie. "She borrowed one of my comics and I wanted to get it back before-"
Weiss sighed. "Save it, Yang isn't here at the moment."
Jaune brought his hand to the back of his neck and laughed nervously. "I don't kn-"
"Blake told me about… about what happened." She sent a glare in his direction before turning and retreating into her room, gesturing for him to follow.
In the end he did so reluctantly of his own free will… and not because he was scared of what she might do if he didn't.
Weiss shut the door softly. "Would you care to explain why you were skulking at our door for so long?"
Jaune forced himself to be calm, or at the very least attempted to approximate calm. "I need your help."
Weiss seemed surprised for a moment before slipping back into her normal glaring self. "And why would I help you?"
Jaune took another heavy breath to steady himself. "Because it might help Yang in the process… and that's something you would like to do."
The Heiress sent him a skeptical look. "Go on."
It was progress, he would take progress. "Is Yang going to be at the dance tonight?"
Weiss again seemed skeptical of whether to answer the question but finally did. "She will be."
"Good. Where is she now?" Jaune slowly began pacing around the room.
Weiss responded rather quickly this time, though the glare certainly didn't disappear. "She and Blake went into Vale to get ready for tonight."
"We still have time then, good."
"What are you planning, Arc?" Weiss' suspicion returned.
A grin came to his face. "I'm gonna fight her."
The room became impossibly silent.
"You're going to what?!" Weiss didn't seem to approve, though that was probably because she didn't have all the details.
"Yang and I first became friends because she started sparring with me, hopefully, that will help us work out some of our problems." It was a good idea, he knew because he had run it through Pyrrha first. "That random act of kindness was the only reason she and I are friends now."
"That isn't a... terrible idea, I suppose." It seemed like it physically pained her to say that.
"So you'll help me?"
Weiss glared at him for a full minute before answering. "Fine, but this isn't for you."
Jaune's grin grew even more. "Of course this isn't for me."
"What exactly do you need me to do?" Weiss moved away from the door to sit down. Jaune continued standing and walking about the room.
"When she gets to the dance I need one of you to keep her there, at least for an hour. Enough time for her to maybe relax a little bit. After that, you, Ruby, and Blake make up an excuse to bring her to one of the training rooms and-"
"How are we supposed to do that exactly?" Of course she asked a question he didn't have an answer to.
In the end, he made it up on the spot. "Say that you all have something special planned. Technically not a lie."
Weiss nodded her head. "That certainly is something Ruby would do… I suppose that would work."
"I'll take care of it from there. Can you get Blake and Ruby up to speed on the plan?"
Weiss nodded. "They'll be more than willing to help, I'm sure."
Jaune turned and moved towards the door. "Thanks Weiss." She made to interrupt but Jaune continued. "For being there for Yang, I know how much it means to her." He pretended to not notice the Heiress' blush and left the room.
The next step was to get dressed. Hopefully Pyrrha was able to find him a suit on such short notice.
Blake attempted to match her friends speed, an issue she had never had before. Yang was in a hurry.
Yang was trying to get this over with as fast as for her the location hadn't been very busy today, a small miracle considering the dance was in just a few hours.
"Yang, come on, this is ridiculous." For not the first time Blake attempted to reason with her. "You need to talk to Jaune."
Yang shook her head as she walked. "No, you were right. I can't just run away from our bet… that means there's only one choice." She seemed to shutter at the thought, and Blake understood why.
She stepped in front of her partner and put her hand out, bringing Yang to a halt for a moment. "You're being unreasonable." Yang tried to push past her but Blake refused to let her. "You just need to talk to Jaune, its j-"
"No!" Yang's eyes flashed red as she powered through Blake's hold, once again heading to her location. "I'm not gonna do what my father did. Dating hunters… it doesn't work." She slowed down for a moment, allowing Blake to catch up to her. "I don't want to do this Blake… I really don't but… I've already lost two mom's, if Jaune and I were to start anything it… it would just end tragically."
Blake tried to think of something to say, something to bring some sense to her friend or raise her spirits. In the end Blake couldn't. Ruby. Weiss, or maybe even Jaune would have had words to say that would reassure Yang that everything would be ok, but Blake didn't believe that.
She truly understood where Yang was coming from, the fear and the worry of losing someone you love on a dangerous mission was horrible. Could Blake really blame Yang for not wanting to put herself through that? Who was she to preach the idea of not running from your problems.
In the end, Blake let Yang make the choice. She was the one that had to live with it, or without it.
They stopped outside their destination as Yang seemed to hesitate before hardening her resolve and opening the door.
The lady behind the desk offered them a smile, not noticing just how unwilling they were. "Welcome to Cleo's Salon, do you have an appointment or is this a walk in?"
Authors Notes: WAIT, HEAR ME OUT! LOWER THE PITCH FORKS! I know this is stretching canon… a lot. But think about it, Yang is confused and worried about losing her friend, she's terrified of ending up like her father, alone and broken, or her mother. She doesn't want to confront Jaune, and this is the only way she sees out of it, that is the key here "The only way she sees out of it."
And I know its out of cannon, but that's the point of fanfiction. To see things we would never see in the show. There is one more chapter after this one, I highly implore you to read it and wait to see how this ends.
Let me hear all you have to say in the reviews. I hope you enjoyed it.
Sincerely SE